Somalia: Al-Shabaab militants carry out attack in Mogadishu

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Police and the Somali National Army [SNA] engaged suspected Al-Shabaab militants who attacked Mogadishu, the Somali capital on Tuesday, multiple witnesses confirmed, in a battle that lasted for several hours and which was yet to be settled at the time the report was published.

The militants at first used Explosive Devices [IEDs] before engaging security forces in a gunfight, in an incident that took place in Marinayo neighborhood of the Abdiaziz District of the capital Mogadishu. This is the first attack in Mogadishu in as many days according to witnesses.

Reports indicate the militants raided a house which was accommodating pro-government local fighters who were wounded in the central Somali military operations. Security officers have been facing Al-Shabaab on all frontlines across the country with central and southern regions being the most targeted.

Al-Shabaab militants have been targeting military centers and highly populated regions in the country, but the military has been responding by waging sophisticated operations. The operations, the government says, have leftover 700 militants dead and thousands injured, in what analysts have termed a "huge success".

The number of casualties still remains scanty but the militants may have suffered massive losses according to witnesses. The Al-Shabaab extortionists usually claim victory in such attacks even in the instances where it is clear that they have lost on the battlefield across the country.

Earlier today, Major Mohamed Dahir Abdulle, a senior Somali Police officer survived a landmine explosion on the road in Hodan District, Mogadishu, witnesses said. The militants also are notorious for targeting senior government officials in their cowardly attacks along with innocent civilians.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has vowed to weed out Al-Shabaab militants from their hideouts and in recent weeks, the Somali National Army has been receiving backup from the US Africa Command, the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia [ATMIS], and the local militia.

Officials in Somalia are yet to release the numbers of the individuals affected in Tuesday's attack or even the extent of the damage. Al-Shabaab militants have been fighting to topple the fragile UN-backed federal government of Somalia, which is also pushing for the stability of the Horn of Africa nation.

GAROWE ONLINE